Primate Experimentation in the US: The Facts We Weren’t Supposed to Know
By Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.
513-575-5517 saen@saenonline.org

Wake Forest University

Beginning in September 2000 Wake Forest is cited for
having an inadequate environmental enhancement program for primates. In
August of 2001 the plan is still listed as being inadequate, with many
of the primates at the Bowman-Gray and Chestnut campuses not even having
a perch to sit on. At this time the lab is also cited for using outdated
drugs such as pentobarbital throughout the Bowman-Gray campus.

In February of 2002, 31 primates still do not even
have perches to sit on. Many research protocols call for different kinds
of enrichment items “. . . but no such items were observed in the animal
cages.” In one protocol in which the primates are “head-capped” (have
metallic devices attached – often by screws -- to their heads) the
primates are socially isolated simply because of the headcaps. The
inspector notes that headcapped primates at other institutions have been
successfully housed socially. Some protocols called for primates to be
housed socially, but on inspection they were still being housed
individually. Food for the primates was also not being stored in such a
way as to insure nutritional integrity.

On March 27, 2002 Wake Forest is again cited for
violations of environmental enhancement for primates with 18 primates
housed individually without justification. Later that year, on November
21, three primates still did not even have a perch to sit on. This
brings the total of violations in this area to four in a three-year
period without any meaningful enforcement actions taken by the USDA. We
must begin to wonder if either Wake Forest or the USDA takes this
regulation seriously.